Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pin, rod, or crosspiece fitted or inserted into a loop in a rope, chain, or strap to prevent slipping, to tighten, or to hold an attached object.
  • noun A device or an apparatus with a toggle joint.
  • intransitive verb To furnish or fasten with a toggle.
  • intransitive verb To alternate between two or more electronic, mechanical, or computer-related options, usually by the operation of a single switch or keystroke.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Nautical, a pin placed through the bight or eye of a rope, block-strap, or bolt, to keep it in its place, or to put the bight or eye of another rope upon, and thus secure them both together; also, a pin passed through a link of a chain which is itself passed through a link of the same or a different chain.
  • noun Two rods or plates hinged together by a toggle-joint: a mechanical device for transmitting force or pressure at a right angle with its direction. See toggle-joint. and cut under stone-breaker.
  • To fix or fasten (itself in something) like a toggle-iron; used reflexively, to stick fast.
  • To fasten (skins) together with wooden pins. Modern Amer.
  • To lift or attach to a hoisting chain by means of a cross-bar inserted in a hole or angle.
  • noun A bar spanning (within) an opening in a tank or other structure, to which a lifting chain or sling can be secured in order to lift the structure. Also toggle-pin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb (Computer programming) To change the value of (a program variable) by activating a toggle switch.
  • transitive verb a harpoon with a pivoted crosspiece in a mortise near the point to prevent it from being drawn out when a whale, shark, or other animal, is harpooned.
  • transitive verb an elbow or knee joint, consisting of two bars so connected that they may be brought quite or nearly into a straight line, and made to produce great endwise pressure, when any force is applied to bring them into this position.
  • noun (Naut.) A wooden pin tapering toward both ends with a groove around its middle, fixed transversely in the eye of a rope to be secured to any other loop or bight or ring; a kind of button or frog capable of being readily engaged and disengaged for temporary purposes.
  • noun (Mach.) Two rods or plates connected by a toggle joint.
  • noun A toggle switch.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A wooden pin tapering toward both ends with a groove around its middle, fixed transversely in the eye of a rope to be secured to any other loop, ring, or bight.
  • noun A kind of button or frog capable of being readily engaged and disengaged for temporary purposes.
  • noun nautical A wooden or metal pin, short rod, crosspiece or similar used for securing a loop in a rope or chain, etc. (often temporarily) to another, e.g. a sea painter to a lifeboat. (FM 55-501)
  • noun A toggle switch; a switch, usually with two positions, activated by a lever; an on/off switch.
  • noun Scouting A circle of leather, plastic (Cub Scouts) etc, resembling a napkin holder to keep the neckerchief in place.
  • verb to alternate between two positions using a single switch or lever.
  • verb to switch between alternate states.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a fastener consisting of a peg or pin or crosspiece that is inserted into an eye at the end of a rope or a chain or a cable in order to fasten it to something (as another rope or chain or cable)
  • noun any instruction that works first one way and then the other; it turns something on the first time it is used and then turns it off the next time
  • verb fasten with, or as if with, a toggle
  • noun a hinged switch that can assume either of two positions
  • verb release by a toggle switch
  • verb provide with a toggle or toggles

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Of uncertain origin. Possible alteration of tug (“to pull”) +‎ -le

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Examples

  • The toggle is a little wooden case into which a peg, joining the ends of the two lower lines of the bridle, is set in such a way that a jerk on the line will free it, causing the log to lie flat so that it can be hauled in.

    Lectures in Navigation Ernest Gallaudet Draper 1919

  • The company sold $250 million of so-called toggle debt due in May 2020 on Nov. 20 that allows it to pay a 10.5 percent interest rate either in cash or notes for the first five years.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

  • The toggle is a concession of some sort to the extreme and to idealists about something other than privacy and phpBB's reputation -- people like me.

    phpBB.com 2010

  • The technology, called toggle-mode DDR, is also a rival to the

    PC Advisor News 2010

  • The toggle is a concession of some sort to the extreme and to idealists about something other than privacy and phpBB's reputation -- people like me.

    phpBB.com 2010

  • The technology, called toggle-mode DDR, is also a rival to the

    Computerworld News 2010

  • Even testers with smaller hands, however, commented on the fact that the S780's back panel buttons feel a little cramped, making it hard to make clean presses (on every button except the appropriately large zoom toggle, that is) unless you're pretty deliberate about it.

    DigitalCameraReview.com Digital Camera News and Reviews 2008

  • Even testers with smaller hands, however, commented on the fact that the S780's back panel buttons feel a little cramped, making it hard to make clean presses (on every button except the appropriately large zoom toggle, that is) unless you're pretty deliberate about it.

    DigitalCameraReview.com Digital Camera News and Reviews 2008

  • And it's really interesting to watch her kind of toggle back and forth.

    Female Politicians Break Out, Try New Tactics 2010

  • BMW The interior features many design points such as toggle switches, an oversized speedometer and a curved dashboard and door panels.

    The 2009 Mini Cooper Convertible 2009

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